Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Beyond Commoner and Elite in Swahili Society: Re-Examination of Archaeological Materials from Gede, Kenya

  • Original Article
  • Published:
African Archaeological Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Swahili communities of the East African coast created one of the best-known societies of precolonial Africa, combining cultural influences from throughout the Indian Ocean world with those of their continental African roots. Of the many Swahili towns and communities, Gede is among the most famous because of its extensive, well-preserved stone ruins and long tradition of archaeological work. Yet research at the site has primarily investigated its elite inhabitants or pursued broad culture-historical questions. One significant exception was a PhD dissertation project undertaken in the early 2000s by Lynn Koplin, but unfortunately never finished or published. By analyzing the data collected by Koplin, the daily lives of the town’s inhabitants and patterns of economic and social difference inside and outside the town walls begin to come into focus. This study provides us with important insights into the functioning of Swahili society during a less well-known period, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Gede reached its apogee during this period. The data especially provide a significant case study for exploring the diversity among Swahili “commoners” in the cosmopolitan centers of the East African littoral.

Résumé

Les communautés swahili de la côte est-africaine ont créé l’une des sociétés les plus connues de l’Afrique précoloniale, alliant les influences culturelles de l’ensemble du monde de l’océan Indien à celles de leurs racines africaines continentales. Parmi les nombreuses villes et communautés swahili, Gede est. parmi les plus célèbres en raison de ses vastes ruines de pierre bien préservées et de sa longue tradition de travaux archéologiques. Pourtant, les recherches sur le site ont principalement porté sur ses habitants d’élite ou sur de vastes questions de culture et d’histoire. Une exception notable était un projet de recherche doctorale entrepris au début des années 2000 par Lynn Koplin, mais malheureusement jamais achevé ni publié. En analysant les données collectées par Koplin, la vie quotidienne des habitants de la ville et les schémas de différences économiques et sociales à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur des murs de la ville commencent à se préciser. Cette étude nous fournit des informations importantes sur le fonctionnement de la société swahili au cours d’une période moins connue, les quinzième et seizième siècles. Gede a atteint son apogée pendant cette période. Les données fournissent en particulier une étude de cas significative pour explorer la diversité parmi les «roturiers» swahili dans les centres cosmopolites du littoral est-africain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abungu, G. H. O. (1989). Communities on the River Tana, Kenya: An archaeological study of relations between the Delta and the River Basin, 700–1890 AD. PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, UK.

  • Abungu, G. H. O. & Mutoro, H. (1993). Coast-interior settlements and social relations in the Kenya coastal Hinterland. In T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, & A. Okpoko (Eds.), The archaeology of Africa: Foods, metals and towns (pp. 694–704). New York: Routledge.

  • Alders, W. (2016). Archaeological survey and landscape history at Gede, Kenya. Nyame Akuma, 85, 33–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allen, J. de V. (1979). The Swahili house: Cultural and ritual concepts underlying its plan and structure. In J. de V. Allen & T. H. Wilson (Eds.), Swahili houses and tombs of the coast of Kenya (pp. 1–32). London: Art and Archaeology Research Papers.

  • Allen, J. de V. (1982). The ‘Shirazi’ problem in East African coastal history. Paideuma, 28, 9–28.

  • Baumanova, M., & Smejda, L. (2017). Structural dynamics of spatial complexity at the ‘Palace of Gede’, Kenya. Azania, 52(1), 71–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biginagwa, T. J. (2012). Historical archaeology of the 19th-century caravan trade in north-eastern Tanzania: A zooarchaeological perspective. PhD dissertation, York University, Canada.

  • Chami, F. A. (1994). The Tanzanian Coast in the first millennium AD: An archaeology of the iron-working, farming communities. Uppsala: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis.

  • Chami, F. A. (1998). A review of Swahili archaeology. African Archaeological Review, 15(3), 199–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chittick, H. N. (1974). Kilwa: An islamic trading city on the East African coast. Nairobi: British Institute in East Africa.

  • Chittick, H. N. (1984). Manda: Excavations at an island port on the Kenya coast. Nairobi: British Institute in East Africa.

  • Christie, A. (2013). An overview of work conducted in the Mafia Archipelago 2008 – 2010. Nyama Akuma, 79, 30–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donley-Reid, L. W. (1990). A structuring structure: The Swahili house. In S. Kent (Ed.), Domestic architecture and the use of space: An interdisciplinary cross-cultural study (pp. 114–126). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B. (2003). Viewing stonetowns from the countryside: An archaeological approach to Swahili regional systems, AD 800–1500. PhD dissertation. University of Virginia.

  • Fleisher, J. B. (2010a). Rituals of consumption and the politics of feasting on the eastern African coast, AD 700–1500. Journal of World Prehistory, 23(4), 195–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B. (2010b). Housing the market: Swahili merchants and regional marketing on the east African coast. In C. Garraty & B. Stark (Eds.), Archaeological approaches to market exchange in ancient societies (pp. 141–159). Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B. (2014). The complexity of public space at the Swahili town of Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 35, 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B., Lane, P., LaViolette, A., Horton, M., Pollard, E., Morales, E. Q., Vernet, T., Christie, A., & Wynne-Jones, S. (2015). When did the Swahili become maritime? American Anthropologist, 117(1), 100–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B., & LaViolette, A. (1999). Elusive wattle-and-daub: Finding the hidden majority in the archaeology of the Swahili. Azania, 34(1), 87–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleisher, J. B., & Wynne-Jones, S. (2011). Ceramics and the early Swahili: Deconstructing the Early Tana Tradition. African Archaeological Review, 28(4), 245–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flexner, J., Fleisher, J. B., & LaViolette, A. (2008). Bead grinders and Early Swahili household economy: Analysis of an assemblage from Tumbe, Pemba Island, Tanzania, 7th-10th centuries AD. Journal of African Archaeology, 6(2), 161–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helm, R. (2000). Recent archaeological research on the iron-working, farming communities of coastal Kenya. Azania, 35(1), 183–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helm, R., Crowther, A., Shipton, C., Tengeza, A., Fuller, D., & Boivin, N. (2012). Exploring agriculture, interaction and trade on the eastern African littoral: Preliminary results from Kenya. Azania, 47(1), 39–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton, M.C. (1981). Shanga 1980: An interim report. Nairobi: National Museums of Kenya.

  • Horton, M. C. (1994). Swahili architecture, space and social structure. In M. Pearson & C. Richards (Eds.), Architecture and order: Approaches to social space (pp. 147–169). London: Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Horton, M. C. (Ed.). (1996). Shanga: The archaeology of a Muslim trading community on the coast of East Africa. London: British Institute in East Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horton, M.C. (forthcoming). Zanzibar and Pemba: The archaeology of an Indian Ocean Archipelago. London: British Institute in East Africa.

  • Horton, M. C., & Middleton, J. (2000). The Swahili: The social landscape of a mercantile society. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, J. S. (1954). The Arab city of Gedi: Excavations at the great mosque, architecture, and finds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, J. S. (1960). The tomb of the dated inscription at Gedi. London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Occasional Paper, 14.

  • Kirkman, J. S. (1963). Gedi: The palace. The Hague: Mouton and Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, J. S. (1964). Men and monuments of the east African coast. London: Lutterworth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, J. S. (1975). Gedi historical monument, Eighth Edition. Mombasa: Rodwell Press.

  • Kusimba, C. M. (1999). The rise and fall of Swahili states. Walnut Creek: AltaMira.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba, C. M., Kusimba, S. B., & Dussubieux, L. (2013). Beyond the coastalscapes: Preindustrial social and political networks in East Africa. African Archaeological Review, 30(4), 399–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba, C. M., Kusimba, S. B., & Wright, D. (2005). The development and collapse of precolonial ethnic mosaics in Tsavo, Kenya. Journal of African Archaeology, 3(2), 243–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kusimba, C. M., & Walz, J. (2018). When did the Swahili become maritime?: A reply to Fleisher et al. (2015) and to the resurgence of maritime myopia in the archaeology of the East African coast. American Anthropologist, 120(3), 429–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A. (2008). Swahili cosmopolitanism in Africa and the Indian Ocean World, A.D. 600-1500. In C. Cobb & D. Loren (Eds.), The archaeology of colonialism and contested modernities. Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 4(1), 24–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A., Fawcett, W., & Karoma, N. J. (1999). Survey and excavations between Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo. Nyame Akuma, 52, 74–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaViolette, A., & Fleisher, J. B. (2009). The urban history of a rural place: Swahili archaeology on Pemba Island, Tanzania, 700-1500 AD. International Journal of African Historical Studies, 42(3), 433–455.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudida, N. (1996). Subsistence at Shanga: The faunal record. In M. C. Horton (Ed.), Shanga: The archaeology of a Muslim trading community on the coast of East Africa (pp. 378–393). London: British Institute in East Africa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutoro, H. W. (1985). The spatial distribution of Mijikenda Kaya settlements on the hinterland of the Kenya coast. Transafrican Journal of History, 14, 78–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pawlowicz, M. (2012). Models of the Swahili past: The archaeology of Mikindani, southern coastal Tanzania. Azania, 47(4), 486–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlowicz, M. (2013). Review of ceramics from Southern Tanzania and Northern Mozambique: Implications for Swahili society. African Archaeological Review, 30(4), 367–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pawlowicz, M. (2017). Archaeological survey and excavations at Mikindani, southern Tanzania: Finding their place in the Swahili world. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pawlowicz, M. (2018). Gede. In S. Wynne-Jones & A. LaViolette (Eds.), The Swahili world (pp. 220–225). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson, D. W. (1976). The prehistory of Eastern Zambia. Nairobi: British Institute in East Africa.

  • Pradines, S. (2000). Nouvelles recherches archéologiques sur le site de Gedi (Kenya, Mission de Juillet-Août 1999). Nyame Akuma, 53, 22–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradines, S. (2003). Islamization and urbanization on the coast of East Africa: Recent excavations at Gedi, Kenya. Azania, 38(1), 180–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pradines, S. (2006). Sanjé ya Kati, Kilwa, Tanzanie, 2005 – 2006. Nyame Akuma, 66, 64–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradines, S. (2010). Gedi, une cite portuaire swahilie: Islam medieval en Afrique orientale. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prendergast, M. E., Quintana Morales, E. M., Crowther, A., Horton, M. C., & Boivin, N. L. (2017). Dietary diversity on the Swahili coast: The fauna from two Zanzibar trading locales. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 27(4), 621–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qin, D., & Ding, Y. (2018). Mambrui and Malindi. In S. Wynne-Jones & A. LaViolette (Eds.), The Swahili world (pp. 205–213). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, D. (2018). Defining the Swahili. In S. Wynne-Jones & A. LaViolette (Eds.), The Swahili world (pp. 67–80). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüther, H. (2002). An African heritage database, the virtual preservation of Africa’s past. International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information, 34, 185–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassoon, H. (1980). Excavations at the site of early Mombasa. Azania, 15(1), 1–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipton, C., Helm, R., Boivin, N., Crowther, A., Austin, P., & Fuller, D. (2013). Intersections, networks and the genesis of social complexity on the East African coast. African Archaeological Review, 30(4), 427–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair, P. J. J., & Håkansson, T. (2000). The Swahili city-state culture. In M. Hansen (Ed.), A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures (pp. 463–482). Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinopoli, C. (1984). Local ceramics. In H. Wright (Ed.), Early seafarers of the Comoro Islands: The Dembeni phase of the IXth–Xth centuries AD. Azania, 19, 13–59.

  • Sombroeck, W. C., Braun, H. M., & Van-der Pour, B. J. A. (1982). Explanatory soil map and agro-climatic zone map of Kenya. Nairobi: National Agriculture Laboratories, Soil Survey Unit, Report, E1.

  • Soper, R. C. (1971). Early Iron Age pottery types from East Africa: Comparative analysis. Azania, 6, 39–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sulas, F., Fleisher, J. B., & Wynne-Jones, S. (2017). Geoarchaeology of urban space in tropical island environments: Songo Mnara, Tanzania. Journal of Archaeological Science, 77, 52–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walz, J. (2010). Route to a regional past: An archaeology of the lower Pangani (Ruvu) basin, Tanzania (500–1900 CE). PhD Dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.

  • Walz, J. (2013). Routes to history. In P. R. Schmidt & S. Mrozowski (Eds.), The death of prehistory (pp. 69–91). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T. H. (1982). Spatial analysis and settlement patterns on the east African coast. Padieuma, 28, 201–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T. H., & Lali Omar, A. (1997). Archaeological investigations at Pate. Azania, 32, 31–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, H. T. (1993). Trade and politics on the eastern littoral of Africa, AD 800-1300. In T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, & A. Okpoko (Eds.), The archaeology of Africa: Food, metals, and towns (pp. 657–671). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2005). Urbanisation at Kilwa, Tanzania, AD 800–1400. PhD dissertation, University of Cambridge, UK.

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2007). Creating urban communities at Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania, AD 800- 1300. Antiquity, 81, 368–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2010). Remembering and reworking the Swahili Diwanate: The role of objects and places at Vumba Kuu. The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 43(3), 407–427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2012). Exploring the use of geophysical survey on the Swahili coast: Vumba Kuu, Kenya. Azania, 47(2), 137–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2013). The public life of the Swahili stonehouse. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 32, 759–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2016). A material culture: Consumption and materiality on the coast of precolonial East Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S. (2018). The social composition of Swahili society. In S. Wynne-Jones & A. LaViolette (Eds.), The Swahili world (pp. 293–305). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S., & Fleisher, J. B. (2010). Archaeological investigations at Songo Mnara, Tanzania. 2009. Nyame Akuma, 73, 2–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Jones, S., & Fleisher, J. B. (2016). The multiple territories of Swahili urban landscapes. World Archaeology, 48(3), 349–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zamani Project. (2017). GIS Layouts- Gede. The Zamani Project. http://www.zamaniproject.org/index.php/gislayouts.html (accessed 26 June 2017).

  • Zhao, B., & Qin, D. (2018). Links with China. In S. Wynne-Jones & A. LaViolette (Eds.), The Swahili world (pp. 430–443). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I appreciate the cooperation of Lynn Koplin in sharing the information from her project and for giving me the permission to publish the material. Her project was funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (Award #0118465) from the National Science Foundation and carried out under Kenyan permit #MOEST 13/001/31C 30/5 and National Museums of Kenya Excavation license #AD/108.10. The ceramic analysis that I conducted was licensed through the Kenyan National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation while I was affiliated with the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). I would particularly like to thank Dr. Stephen Rucina, Margaret Omoto, Jambo Haro, and Mohammed Mchulla of NMK for their assistance. The work was funded by the Humanities Research Council of Virginia Commonwealth University. I would also like to thank Adria LaViolette for helpful comments in improving the earlier drafts of this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Matthew Pawlowicz

Authors
  1. Matthew Pawlowicz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Pawlowicz.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pawlowicz, M. Beyond Commoner and Elite in Swahili Society: Re-Examination of Archaeological Materials from Gede, Kenya. Afr Archaeol Rev 36, 213–248 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09326-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09326-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation